Description

Now the farthest bolt line right at Yellow Knife. Not your average Yellow Knife route, a bit steeper and most of the holds are pretty big.

I recommend the belayer anchors to the tree off to the right. I removed all the loose stuff I could find but if something came off you'd want to be out of the way.

From the ledge you can climb to the left of the 1st bolt (stick clip it for safety) on small crimps with great sequence. Or to the right on an easier crack layback. Either way you get to a nice stance on a ledge. Move left to the arete and up (a hollow flake seems to be holding but be gentle). Continue to an undercling move that gains the final pumpy face. Mostly good holds with a crimp or two thrown in for spice.

The name is a reference to a small island that is the western most point in Alaska. Hardcore bird watchers go there in hopes of seeing some Russian birds on US soil. Birding is almost as crazy as climbing, haha.

Location

Up and right from Cow Patty (5.10a) there is a small but comfortable ledge with a few small trees on it. Scamper up the gully to this ledge and walk left on it to it's end. Climb up and left following bolts.

I really enjoyed this Lee. Without any chalk marks I blew the on sight by not finding the good hold above the last bolt before the anchors, but it should be an ok red point.

One word of caution, there was some pretty sizable loose rock on this. The large flake you mentioned at the start is still there and wobbling triumphantly, but 1/2 way up on the right above the ledge there are two flakes that could easily come off.

glad you got on it! thanks for the feed back... sorry if a missed some loose rocks... the big flake i had deemed safe, ill have to check it again... the upper stuff i must not have seen... the holds i use are all secure...

I have now climbed it three times and today I watched two friends who are very solid on 5.10s climb it (both one hung it)... I have decided on an upgrade to low end 5.11... I'm a lot of things but I try not to be a sand bagger... My least favorite thing about developing routes is having to slap a grade on them so please chime in if you climb this or any other route that is new and hasn't reached a solid consensus grade

I climbed this yesterday and really enjoyed this route. Anchoring on the ledge at the tree to climber's right (or throwing a cam into the crack) is a good idea.

SPOILER I like taking the easiest way up so I followed the flakes up past the first bolt and mantled onto the ledge. The next section took a few minutes for me to figure out but it's great because you're standing, no hands on a ledge with a bolt at your side. I ended up using a jug on the arete to clip the 3rd bolt before coming back to the ledge. With renewed confidence I stemmed my way up the corner to a good stance. Don't get sucked up to far! Left of the next bolt is a bomber jug but it's out of vision. Slabby feet lead to an obvious undercling below the bulge. This is where the pump hit me. Standing up on the undercling gave break to some crimps above the edge. There is a bolt on the bulge that I clipped just prior to falling. I channeled my inner T.Swift, shook it off, and crimped my way onto the bulge rewarded by better holds to clip the anchors. /SPOILER

This route is another great addition to Yellowknife and was completely dry during our warm winter outing. This route can be broken down into distinct sections so it feels fairly short. I'm trying to think of a route that's comparable in style but I'm drawing a blank. The crimps were good and in the range of maybe Arm and Hammer, Supreme Onion Sacrifice, Mr Coffee, or F'ing the Dog